Pictures boost hopes for Mars ice discovery

Very cool. :sunglasses:

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP)  – Sharp new images received Saturday from the Phoenix lander largely convinced scientists that the spacecraft’s thrusters had uncovered a large patch of ice just below the Martian surface, team members said.

Exhaust from the lander’s descent engine revealed a patch of ice or rock beneath the Mars dirt.

That bodes well for the mission’s main goal of digging for ice that can be tested for evidence of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/05/31/phoenix.mars.ap/index.html